High-Throughput siRNA Screening to Reveal GATA-2 Upstream Transcriptional Mechanisms in Hematopoietic Cells

PLoS One. 2015 Sep 1;10(9):e0137079. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0137079. eCollection 2015.

Abstract

Hematopoietic stem cells can self-renew and differentiate into all blood cell types. The transcription factor GATA-2 is expressed in both hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells and is essential for cell proliferation, survival, and differentiation. Recently, evidence from studies of aplastic anemia, MonoMAC syndrome, and lung cancer has demonstrated a mechanistic link between GATA-2 and human pathophysiology. GATA-2-dependent disease processes have been extensively analyzed; however, the transcriptional mechanisms upstream of GATA-2 remain less understood. Here, we conducted high-throughput small-interfering-RNA (siRNA) library screening and showed that YN-1, a human erythroleukemia cell line, expressed high levels of GATA-2 following the activation of the hematopoietic-specific 1S promoter. As transient luciferase reporter assay in YN-1 cells revealed the highest promoter activity in the 1S promoter fused with GATA-2 intronic enhancer (+9.9 kb/1S); therefore, we established a cell line capable of stably expressing +9.9 kb/1S-Luciferase. Subsequently, we screened 995 transcription factor genes and revealed that CITED2 acts as a GATA-2 activator in human hematopoietic cells. These results provide novel insights into and further identify the regulatory mechanism of GATA-2.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Bone Marrow Cells / metabolism*
  • Cell Line, Tumor
  • GATA Transcription Factors / physiology*
  • High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing*
  • Humans
  • RNA, Messenger / genetics
  • RNA, Small Interfering / genetics*
  • Transcription, Genetic / physiology*

Substances

  • GATA Transcription Factors
  • RNA, Messenger
  • RNA, Small Interfering

Grants and funding

This study was supported by KANAE Foundation for the Promotion of Medical Science (TF) (http://www.kanae-zaidan.com) which receives financial support from Sanofi KK, and by a research grant from Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.